Location, location, location. I really set this up to draw from Madison.

MADISON, Alabama - Twenty-four gunners poured 480 bullets into two dozen zombies last week, and you can bet they'll be back.

Well, naturally the zombies, since you can't kill what's already dead, but also the 24 men and women who took aim at the gruesomely stamped targets at Last Resort Guns, which staged its first shootout Halloween night with success.

"This is much too much like fun not to do this again," said Russell Durling, one of the owners of the store that moved into its larger, new location on County Line Road in Madison on Sept. 21.

Last Resort Guns shooting rangeLast Resort Guns in Madison opened its indoor shooting range in October and currently has 12 lanes available for handguns and rifles. Twenty-four shooters competed in a zombie shootout recently where competitors has one minutes to land 20 shots in the paper targets.

"This is what shooting sport is all about. It's not highly competitive. It's about getting together and enjoying what we love," he said. "We'd like to do something like this once a month."

The old location was too small to house a gun range, but it was Last Resort's plan from the start to eventually have an indoor shooting range, he said.

Opening both a store and range at the same time would have been too much to bite off at once, but after it established itself as a gun store, the owners built a new building with more retail space and a 18-lane shooting range.

Currently the range has six lanes for handguns and six for rifles rated to 5.56mm caliber. It has space for six more lanes that may offer a tactical range for shooting on the move or with moving targets. The range began operating Oct. 4, but Durling said it didn't get up to full speed till last week.

If anyone was happier than Durling after the zombie shoot, it was Kirk McLaughlin, and not just because he scored the highest with a 209 after piercing the head of his zombie with 20 shots in less than a minute with his Springfield 45 1911. The Madison resident said he was thrilled he had a shooting range close to home and no longer had to drive to Larry's Pistol and Pawn in Huntsville.

"I bugged these guys about every week to open this place," he said after collecting his prizes: his $10 entry fee returned, plus a hat, key chain and writing pen.

Shooters in Madison basically have two options, McLaughlin said, use the outdoor range at Swan Creek near Decatur or Larry's. Besides an inconvenient drive to Huntsville, he said Larry's range has become too crowded, especially with the surge in gun sales in the past year.

You don't have to own a gun to use the shooting range. Last Resort rents handguns and rifles with most of the handguns starting at $10. Add in the $20 lane rental (good for all day), ammunition (first box must be bought at store) and tax and you're looking at about $60 to shoot 50 rounds.

There also are memberships ranging from $400 for to $5,000 that come with no lane fees for multiple guests, discounts on merchandise, free gun rental on some packages and privilege to reserve lanes. Last Resort has 260 members so far and goal is 500 by January.

The range has a dedicated classroom and a lounge/cafe area where guests can watch shooting range on several large screen monitors. It also rents out a safe deposit boxes for $10 per month so patrons can leave their guns at the store.